PRA firearm exemptions

AN ACT Relating to public records act exemptions regarding 1
concealed pistol licenses, permits to purchase firearms, and firearms 2
purchases or transfers; and reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.240.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 42.56.240 and 2024 c 299 s 2 and 2024 c 298 s 21 are 5
each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 6
The following investigative, law enforcement, and crime victim 7
information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this 8
chapter: 9
(1) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative 10
records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology 11
agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to 12
discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is 13
essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any 14
person's right to privacy; 15
(2) Information revealing the identity of persons who are 16
witnesses to or victims of crime or who file complaints with 17
investigative, law enforcement, or penology agencies, other than the 18
commission, if disclosure would endanger any person's life, physical 19
safety, or property. If at the time a complaint is filed the 20
complainant, victim, or witness indicates a desire for disclosure or 21
H-2618.1
HOUSE BILL 2235
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Walsh, Berry, and Couture
Prefiled 12/31/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on State Government & Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2235
nondisclosure, such desire shall govern. However, all complaints 1
filed with the commission about any elected official or candidate for 2
public office must be made in writing and signed by the complainant 3
under oath; 4
(3) Any records of investigative reports prepared by any state, 5
county, municipal, or other law enforcement agency pertaining to sex 6
offenses contained in chapter 9A.44 RCW or sexually violent offenses 7
as defined in RCW 71.09.020, which have been transferred to the 8
Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs for permanent 9
electronic retention and retrieval pursuant to RCW 40.14.070(2)(b);10
(4)(a) License applications , licenses, notices of license 11
denials, and any documents associated with a license or license 12
application, including proof of completion of a certified concealed 13
carry firearms safety training program, under RCW 9.41.070, except 14
that copies of license applications or information on the 15
applications may be released to law enforcement or corrections 16
agencies or to persons and entities as authorized under RCW 9.41.815;17
(b) Permit applications, permits, notices of permit denials, and 18
any documents associated with a permit or permit application, 19
including a certificate of completion of a certified firearms safety 20
training program, under RCW 9.41.121, except that copies of permit 21
applications or information on the applications may be released to 22
law enforcement or corrections agencies or to persons and entities as 23
authorized under RCW 9.41.815; and24
(c) Applications for the purchase or transfer of a firearm, 25
firearm transfer records, notices of application denials, and any 26
documents associated with an application for the purchase or transfer 27
of a firearm, under chapter 9.41 RCW, except that firearm transfer 28
records and copies of applications for the purchase or transfer of a 29
firearm or information on the applications may be released to law 30
enforcement or corrections agencies or to persons and entities as 31
authorized under RCW 9.41.815;32
(5)(a) Information revealing the specific details that describe 33
an alleged or proven child victim of sexual assault or commercial 34
sexual exploitation under age 18, or the identity or contact 35
information of an alleged or proven child victim of sexual assault or 36
commercial sexual exploitation who is under age 18. Identifying 37
information includes the child victim's name, addresses, location, 38
photograph, and in cases in which the child victim is a relative, 39
stepchild, or stepsibling of the alleged perpetrator, identification 40
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of the relationship between the child and the alleged perpetrator. 1
Contact information includes phone numbers, email addresses, social 2
media profiles, and user names and passwords. 3
(b) For purposes of this subsection (5), "commercial sexual 4
exploitation" has the same meaning as in RCW 7.105.010;5
(6) Information contained in a local or regionally maintained 6
gang database as well as the statewide gang database referenced in 7
RCW 43.43.762; 8
(7) Data from the electronic sales tracking system established in 9
RCW 69.43.165; 10
(8) Information submitted to the statewide unified sex offender 11
notification and registration program under RCW 36.28A.040(6) by a 12
person for the purpose of receiving notification regarding a 13
registered sex offender, including the person's name, residential 14
address, and email address; 15
(9) Personally identifying information collected by law 16
enforcement agencies pursuant to local security alarm system programs 17
and vacation crime watch programs. Nothing in this subsection shall 18
be interpreted so as to prohibit the legal owner of a residence or 19
business from accessing information regarding his or her residence or 20
business; 21
(10) The felony firearm offense conviction database of felony 22
firearm offenders established in RCW 43.43.822; 23
(11) The identity of a state employee or officer who has in good 24
faith filed a complaint with an ethics board, as provided in RCW 25
42.52.410, or who has in good faith reported improper governmental 26
action, as defined in RCW 42.40.020, to the auditor or other public 27
official, as defined in RCW 42.40.020; 28
(12) The following security threat group information collected 29
and maintained by the department of corrections pursuant to RCW 30
72.09.745: (a) Information that could lead to the identification of a 31
person's security threat group status, affiliation, or activities; 32
(b) information that reveals specific security threats associated 33
with the operation and activities of security threat groups; and (c) 34
information that identifies the number of security threat group 35
members, affiliates, or associates; 36
(13) The global positioning system data that would indicate the 37
location of the residence of an employee or worker of a criminal 38
justice agency as defined in RCW 10.97.030; 39
p. 3 HB 2235
(14) Body worn camera recordings to the extent nondisclosure is 1
essential for the protection of any person's right to privacy as 2
described in RCW 42.56.050, including, but not limited to, the 3
circumstances enumerated in (a) of this subsection. A law enforcement 4
or corrections agency shall not disclose a body worn camera recording 5
to the extent the recording is exempt under this subsection.6
(a) Disclosure of a body worn camera recording is presumed to be 7
highly offensive to a reasonable person under RCW 42.56.050 to the 8
extent it depicts: 9
(i)(A) Any areas of a medical facility, counseling, or 10
therapeutic program office where: 11
(I) A patient is registered to receive treatment, receiving 12
treatment, waiting for treatment, or being transported in the course 13
of treatment; or 14
(II) Health care information is shared with patients, their 15
families, or among the care team; or 16
(B) Information that meets the definition of protected health 17
information for purposes of the health insurance portability and 18
accountability act of 1996 or health care information for purposes of 19
chapter 70.02 RCW; 20
(ii) The interior of a place of residence where a person has a 21
reasonable expectation of privacy; 22
(iii) An intimate image; 23
(iv) A minor; 24
(v) The body of a deceased person; 25
(vi) The identity of or communications from a victim or witness 26
of an incident involving domestic violence as defined in RCW 27
10.99.020 or sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030, or 28
disclosure of intimate images as defined in RCW 9A.86.010. If at the 29
time of recording the victim or witness indicates a desire for 30
disclosure or nondisclosure of the recorded identity or 31
communications, such desire shall govern; or 32
(vii) The identifiable location information of a community-based 33
domestic violence program as defined in RCW 70.123.020, or emergency 34
shelter as defined in RCW 70.123.020. 35
(b) The presumptions set out in (a) of this subsection may be 36
rebutted by specific evidence in individual cases.37
(c) In a court action seeking the right to inspect or copy a body 38
worn camera recording, a person who prevails against a law 39
enforcement or corrections agency that withholds or discloses all or 40
p. 4 HB 2235
part of a body worn camera recording pursuant to (a) of this 1
subsection is not entitled to fees, costs, or awards pursuant to RCW 2
42.56.550 unless it is shown that the law enforcement or corrections 3
agency acted in bad faith or with gross negligence.4
(d) A request for body worn camera recordings must:5
(i) Specifically identify a name of a person or persons involved 6
in the incident; 7
(ii) Provide the incident or case number; 8
(iii) Provide the date, time, and location of the incident or 9
incidents; or 10
(iv) Identify a law enforcement or corrections officer involved 11
in the incident or incidents. 12
(e)(i) A person directly involved in an incident recorded by the 13
requested body worn camera recording, an attorney representing a 14
person directly involved in an incident recorded by the requested 15
body worn camera recording, a person or his or her attorney who 16
requests a body worn camera recording relevant to a criminal case 17
involving that person, or the executive director from either the 18
Washington state commission on African American affairs, Asian 19
Pacific American affairs, or Hispanic affairs, has the right to 20
obtain the body worn camera recording, subject to any exemption under 21
this chapter or any applicable law. In addition, an attorney who 22
represents a person regarding a potential or existing civil cause of 23
action involving the denial of civil rights under the federal or 24
state Constitution, or a violation of a United States department of 25
justice settlement agreement, has the right to obtain the body worn 26
camera recording if relevant to the cause of action, subject to any 27
exemption under this chapter or any applicable law. The attorney must 28
explain the relevancy of the requested body worn camera recording to 29
the cause of action and specify that he or she is seeking relief from 30
redaction costs under this subsection (14)(e). 31
(ii) A law enforcement or corrections agency responding to 32
requests under this subsection (14)(e) may not require the requesting 33
individual to pay costs of any redacting, altering, distorting, 34
pixelating, suppressing, or otherwise obscuring any portion of a body 35
worn camera recording. 36
(iii) A law enforcement or corrections agency may require any 37
person requesting a body worn camera recording pursuant to this 38
subsection (14)(e) to identify himself or herself to ensure he or she 39
p. 5 HB 2235
is a person entitled to obtain the body worn camera recording under 1
this subsection (14)(e). 2
(f)(i) A law enforcement or corrections agency responding to a 3
request to disclose body worn camera recordings may require any 4
requester not listed in (e) of this subsection to pay the reasonable 5
costs of redacting, altering, distorting, pixelating, suppressing, or 6
otherwise obscuring any portion of the body worn camera recording 7
prior to disclosure only to the extent necessary to comply with the 8
exemptions in this chapter or any applicable law. 9
(ii) An agency that charges redaction costs under this subsection 10
(14)(f) must use redaction technology that provides the least costly 11
commercially available method of redacting body worn camera 12
recordings, to the extent possible and reasonable.13
(iii) In any case where an agency charges a requestor for the 14
costs of redacting a body worn camera recording under this subsection 15
(14)(f), the time spent on redaction of the recording shall not count 16
towards the agency's allocation of, or limitation on, time or costs 17
spent responding to public records requests under this chapter, as 18
established pursuant to local ordinance, policy, procedure, or state 19
law. 20
(g) For purposes of this subsection (14): 21
(i) "Body worn camera recording" means a video and/or sound 22
recording that is made by a body worn camera attached to the uniform 23
or eyewear of a law enforcement or corrections officer while in the 24
course of his or her official duties; and 25
(ii) "Intimate image" means an individual or individuals engaged 26
in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse as defined in RCW 27
9A.44.010 and masturbation, or an individual's intimate body parts, 28
whether nude or visible through less than opaque clothing, including 29
the genitals, pubic area, anus, or postpubescent female nipple.30
(h) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict 31
access to body worn camera recordings as otherwise permitted by law 32
for official or recognized civilian and accountability bodies or 33
pursuant to any court order. 34
(i) Nothing in this section is intended to modify the obligations 35
of prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement under Brady v. Maryland, 36
373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963), Kyles v. 37
Whitley, 541 U.S. 419, 115 S. Ct. 1555, 131 L. Ed.2d 490 (1995), and 38
the relevant Washington court criminal rules and statutes.39
p. 6 HB 2235
(j) A law enforcement or corrections agency must retain body worn 1
camera recordings for at least 60 days and thereafter may destroy the 2
records in accordance with the applicable records retention schedule;3
(15) Any records and information contained within the statewide 4
sexual assault kit tracking system established in RCW 43.43.545;5
(16)(a) Survivor communications with, and survivor records 6
maintained by, campus-affiliated advocates. 7
(b) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict 8
access to records maintained by a campus-affiliated advocate in the 9
event that: 10
(i) The survivor consents to inspection or copying;11
(ii) There is a clear, imminent risk of serious physical injury 12
or death of the survivor or another person; 13
(iii) Inspection or copying is required by federal law; or14
(iv) A court of competent jurisdiction mandates that the record 15
be available for inspection or copying. 16
(c) "Campus-affiliated advocate" and "survivor" have the 17
definitions in RCW 28B.112.030; 18
(17) Information and records prepared, owned, used, or retained 19
by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs and 20
information and records prepared, owned, used, or retained by the 21
Washington state patrol pursuant to chapter 261, Laws of 2017;22
(18) Any and all audio or video recordings of child forensic 23
interviews as defined in chapter 26.44 RCW. Such recordings are 24
confidential and may only be disclosed pursuant to a court order 25
entered upon a showing of good cause and with advance notice to the 26
child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian. However, if the child 27
is an emancipated minor or has attained the age of majority as 28
defined in RCW 26.28.010, advance notice must be to the child. 29
Failure to disclose an audio or video recording of a child forensic 30
interview as defined in chapter 26.44 RCW is not grounds for 31
penalties or other sanctions available under this chapter; and32
(19) Information exempt from public disclosure and copying under 33
RCW 43.10.305(2)(f). 34
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